Ang saya-saya talaga kung umuulan, diba? (I'm not being sarcastic here.) Okay, di bali nang baha sa paligid mo, di bali nang hindi ka makakalabas ng bahay kasi baka hindi ka makabalik (o hindi ka rin makakarating sa pupuntahan mo). Basta ang importante ay nasa bahay ka kung umuulan. Sapat na ang lahat.
Alam mo kung bakit? Kasi, panay na bukambibig ng tao kung umuulan ay "sana nasa bahay ako ngayon, sana nakahiga ako sa kama ko, sana meron akong champorado (at tuyo)..." Kaya, kung nasa bahay na kayo at umuulan, i-enjoy niyo na lang! Wala nang drama na "OMG hindi ako makakalabas", lalo na kung nung mga araw na may pasok ay nagsasabi kang "sana nasa bahay ako, ang sarap matulog kasi". Tama na ang drama - mag-enjoy ka na lang!
Katulad ko - dapat pupunta ako sa YC, eh dahil baha hanggang tuhod sa Leon Guinto, at malamang mas malalim sa Singalong, eh di nag-ayos na lang ako ng hard drive at nag-marathon ng Lord of the Rings Extended Version! Ang saya, diba? Nakipag-drinking game pa ako sa sarili ko (sa bawat headshot ni Legolas, sumigaw ng "WOOOO!" sabay inom ng hot choco).
So yeah...masaya ang weekend ko. Saksakan ng saya. Tuwing umuulan at kapiling...ang sarili mo. XD
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Okay. That's enough Tagalog. Hahahaha! Ang sagwa ko talaga mag-Tagalog! Mea culpa.
I think time spent to write about The Hollow Crown (and all the feelings that have surfaced from watching the same) is time well spent. So, I shall!
Before I begin, let me just say that prior to watching this, the only Shakespeare play that I seriously studied was A Midsummer Night's Dream from grade school (one of the very few things I'm thankful for when I studied in St. Scho, now that I look back on it); and quite indirectly, Hamlet (cause The Lion King is Hamlet). I'm not going to go all lit-freak on this (cause I'm not going to try to be someone I'm not...lest I embarrass myself!).
Let me begin by saying this: Richard II = Henry V > Henry IV, Part 2 > Henry IV, Part 1.
I think Ben Whishaw delivered here - and exceedingly so! He embodied Richard - his beauty, his excesses, his obvious immaturity, and the fragility of his emotional state. Every time he speaks, you're helplessly drawn to him in spite of his faults, and the knowledge of what's going to happen to him in the end. You couldn't help but feel bad when he fell from grace after being usurped by Henry Bolingbroke. He's supposed to be the bad guy (well, depending on whose side you're on, he could be the hero and Henry the villain), but in the end, he's but a victim of ... well...machinations that were of his own making.
Okay, so much for Ben Whishaw. The whole cast was BEYOND, I mean...I can't even begin to describe it. Just seeing Patrick Stewart (whom I didn't know was gonna be there until I saw him in the first few minutes) made me go "OMG LOLO!" Hahaha! But more than the cast - Richard II was a freaking visual feast. As in, I kid you not. For a TV production, it was BEYOND (tulo laway ka lang). The visuals were so appropriate to the themes of the play. I'd pay to see Richard II on the big screen, that's for sure. I'd even pay for a DVD. It's that good. And for me to say BEYOND three times is pretty telling.
Okay, moving on to Henry IV, Part 1. I love Jeremy Irons - he's been on my hall of fame (again, read: list of people whom I want to be related to XD) ever since The Lion King. So, to have him play Henry IV was pretty much an OMG-MY-EMOTIONS-SO-MANY-FEELS moment.
Having said that, Part 1 is my least favorite. I feel it was lukewarm (the kind that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but you force yourself to swallow it nonetheless). I think it's not Lolo Jeremy's fault - in fact, he was spot on. It may have something to do with the prod design. There wasn't much effort put into the details of, say, the throne room (comparing to Richard II) or the sceneries (compared to panoramic views of Richard II, again). I think the burden of bringing the play to life rested too much on the cast, leaving the set design with much to be desired. It must be said that I really hated Falstaff's guts (and I guess props goes to Simon Russell Beale for this), and I honestly think he's an irredeemable villain.
Come Henry IV, Part 2 - we witness a rebound. Again, prod design is on the lukewarm side, but a great cast is a great cast, whether they are dressed in rags or what-have-you. Both parts of Henry IV can't exist independently - they have to go together. Because, more than the latter life and death of Henry IV, the plays are about the coming-of-age of Prince Hal.
And here, I shall digress.
And here, I shall digress.
The fear of responsibility; specifically, the fear of having so much resting on your shoulders and realizing that maybe you will have to endure it by yourself (even though that's not true, you feel lonesome all the same) - that feeling is all too real for me. I could think of a couple of things from where this stems from, but the effect was one sleepless night, a very depressing morning after, and tasks that you usually enjoyed seem very mundane. It took a day or two for me to recover, not to mention a Lord of the Rings marathon. Hahahahaha! LOTR - never fails to make me happy.
So much for that! /le sigh Aside from the gut-wrenching drama, Part 2 had, ehem, a sauna scene (YES!), and Falstaff got the butt-whooping that he deserved.
I love war flicks. For me, nothing more embodies human nature than these (and this is probably why I love LOTR so much). Kumbaga, doon talaga lumalabas yung tunay na kulay ng tao - all pretension, pride, and what-have-you could be stripped off when you are pressed on every side, being threatened by death, loss, and other things that you have no control over. Plus, I love seeing bloodshed. But you already knew that. XD
Anyway, like what I said awhile ago, Henry V came at a very, VERY close second to Richard II, but officially I'm putting them at the same level. Both have very different strengths that made them good. Richard II's strength, for me, is that it's a very solid adaptation - borrowing from 300, it worked like a single, impenetrable unit. Henry V, on the other hand, succeeds in taking you through a rollercoaster of emotions that ultimately, mirror human nature - more than the other episodes did (and I think it's because it's set during a time of war).
Tom? He delivered. Like, oh my stars he did. Henry V was the epitome of a warrior king that had heart - he was human inasmuch as he was king. We see him first as a king who was proud, then a king who was able to capture the hearts of distraught men (Once more unto the breach, dear friends...); a king who would refuse to surrender, then a king who would disguise himself and descend to mingle with the commoners (yup, borrowing a line from TLK!); a king whose majesty was ordained by God, then a king who's on his knees imploring to God to steel the hearts of his men. See? It was a freaking rollercoaster ride, and this was just for ONE PERSON!
The ensemble here was collectively fantastic as well. That much you can credit to the tetralogy - cast is SPOT freaking ON. Of course, you can only expect so much from the battle scenes (this is TV, not cinema anyway), but it looked pretty decent. It could have used more blood though, but then again that would raise the ratings XD. The finale (read: ligawan scene with Katherine) was very well played, but being the warfreak that I am, I enjoyed the scenes leading up to the battle more than that.
And so...that ends my...errr...lengthy reaction to The Hollow Crown. It was watching time well spent, overall. It didn't make me a Shakespeare die-hard though; I'll probably still stick to AMND. =D If you love watching historical stuff, this is really recommended. There are times you'd wish for subtitles (I did); it would be helpful if you had the book or a study guide handy (both I didn't have and didn't think of preparing beforehand).
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